"How long are you going to hold us prisoners?" asked Bald-head--"till you find the treasure? Oh, Lord!"
"And luck is with you," Hook-nose sneered.
"At present, it _is_ with us--very much with us, my friend," said Croyden. "You will excuse us, now, we have pressing business, elsewhere."
When they were out of hearing, Macloud said:
"Doesn't our recovery of Parmenter's letter change things very materially?"
"It seems to me it does," Croyden answered. "Indeed, I think we need fear the rogues no longer--we can simply have them arrested for the theft of our wallets, or even release them entirely."
"Arrest is preferable," said Macloud. "It will obviate all danger of our being shot at long range, by the beggars. Let us put them where they're safe, for the time."
"But the arrest must not be made here!" interposed Croyden. "We can't send for the police: if they find them here it would give color to their story of a treasure on Greenberry Point."
"Then Axtell and I will remain on guard, while you go to town and arrange for their apprehension--say, just as they come off the Severn bridge. When you return, we can release them."
"What if they don't cross the Severn--what if they scent our game, and keep straight on to Baltimore? They can abandon their team, and catch a Short Line train at a way station."
"Then the Baltimore police can round them up. I'm for chancing it. They've lost Parmenter's letter; haven't anything to substantiate their story. Furthermore, we have a permit for the Chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee and friends to camp here. I think that, now, we can afford to ignore them--the recovery of the letter was exceedingly lucky."
"Very good!" said Macloud--"you're the one to be satisfied; it's a whole heap easier than running a private prison ourselves."
Croyden looked the other's horse over carefully, so he could describe it accurately, then they hitched up their own team and he drove off to Annapolis.
"It's all right!" he said. "I told the Mayor we had passed two men on the Severn bridge whom we identified as those who picked our pockets, Wednesday evening, in Carvel Hall--and gave him the necessary descriptions. He recognized the team as one of 'Cheney's Best,' and will have the entire police force--which consists of four men--waiting at the bridge on the Annapolis side." He looked at his watch. "They are there, now, so we can turn the prisoners loose."